Rain, Rain, Rain

It's raining cats and dogs ~English phrase
Sedia payung sebelum hujan ~ Peribahasa Indonesia
Dari pada hujan emas di negri orang, 
...lebih baik hujan batu di negri sendiri ~ Peribahasa Indonesia
I'ts Raining Men. Hallelujah! ~ The Weather Girls
I'm Singing In The Rain ~ Gene Kelly
January 2013 Rain ~ Jakarta  
 

I'm Hot!

I usually run with hat to avoid the sun's blazing heat. But often time, especially when I do long distance run, the heat is kind of trapped under my hat. And when my head gets really hot my brain starts playing tricks on me. Come on let's quit already! What's the point of doing this? This is insane. You will never make it! Now I run hat-less and armed with good sun lotions, a headband or bandanna to keep my hair tidy (Yup!  It's important to look neat even when I'm sweaty), and a 600ml bottled water to cool my head & my thirst. 

Prompt Me

The other day I was packing all my stuff I found this handmade book I made for Dena when she was in high school. I didn't know she used it for some sort of time table. 
I remember I often bugged her about the importance of using agenda to be organized. 
I depend on my agenda to be organized with time & work. I need to see the dates to set goals & plans. Dena has her own system which I don't quite understand. She can do without dates. But somehow it worked for her. I'm keeping this. A little reminder that my way or my standard of doing things is not the only way. It may work for me but not for other people. I should never enforce my standard on other people. 

One Tough Cookie

When Dena was in primary school she expressed her emotions through letters. Mostly she wrote when she went away somewhere without me or when she was mad at me. Now that she is in college she occasionally be drama queen and writes on my Facebook wall. Sometimes a week goes by and I didn't have any worries or thoughts about her at all. Not because I keep myself busy, but I know by heart she is fine and able to handle challenges. Or maybe I'm enjoying this empty nest thing a bit too much. :-)

Recyclepedia

When I was small encyclopedia was the google of the old days. My first encyclopedia set was Childcraft from World Book, 1973 edition. My favorite was #11: Make and Do. Then I graduated to Grolier's The American Peoples Encyclopedia. I wonder who still read encyclopedia these days? I still have them even though I never read them anymore. I keep Childcraft because I adore its illustrations and drawings. I use The American Peoples Encyclopedia to keep all my glued prints, paper or banner for my journal covers so they will be flat and straight when the glue dries. They make great paper weight. :-)

Childcraft Volume 11: Make And Do

Childcraft Volume 11: Make And Do

Book #1: IES Divers

I'm glad I am a visual learner so I don't have to read the instruction on page 92 of Making Handmade Book. I can just look at the picture and figure things out. A Sidebound binding or also known as Japanese Side stitch is easy. It takes less time to make than a Coptic binding. I love it! If you are not a visual learner and learn better by reading text click here.

Diagram from Making Handmade Book by Alisa Golden

Catch Of The Day #13

Doodles by Dena

Title

I rarely buy a book because of its title. Yes, a title will definitely will intrigue my curiosity but it never moves me to purchase a book until I saw this book on a shelf in an art store. I didn't even bother to scan the pages like I usually do. I just had to have it, grabbed the book, put it in my basket and proceed to the check out counter. My reading guts was right. I love it! I'm going to pick just twelve new ways to bind a book, one book for each month of 2013. Yay!

Red

I love gift in pretty packaging. The thought that someone takes his or her time to choose the right color, pattern and paper to present a gift always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Like drinking a hot genmai-cha tea in a rainy day. I keep everything that comes with a gift. My head spins with recycling ideas. Thank you Neny, you are as sweet as a candy apple.

First Sunday

5.00 am: Woke up. It was raining. Got up and changed into running short and sleeveless shirt, actually excited to go running in the rain. 6.30 am: Started running in Senayan. It was drizzling, chose to run in the rain instead under the cover of GBK. 7.02 am: Hit Sudirman, still drizzling, quite an empty street on a Car Free Day, ran in the middle of the road smiling, feeling a lot like a road runner. Beep! Beep! Point of return was the statue of Sudirman, was not in the mood to run uphill. On the way back got a high five from an old man on a bicycle. Didn't I see him running with no shoes last week? 8.09 am: Finished 12K, still drizzling, still smiling. I'm officially obsessed with running. Life is awesome!